THINKING AS DOING

Based both on advancements of existing design and construction methods as well as the introduction of new digital and technological design and fabrication tools to the field of architecture, an entirely new process of design thinking has emerged. The objectives of this new process will result in new ways of expressing and presenting ideas and will provide the ability for architects to create and fabricate more meaningful designed objects and environments. As a result, digital fabrication technologies are narrowing the gap between representation and building, between digital design and making. Designers now have the ability to move seamlessly between the two processes, allowing one to inform the other, changing the way we think about making. But how do these design methodologies and fabrication techniques inform the experiential?

The intention of this installation, created within an Undergraduate studio at the School of Architecture and Planning at Catholic University was 1) to exploit its affectual qualities through the installations multiple viewpoints; 2) find a seamless connection between the designer and the finished product via parametric modeling software; and 3) address the “essence of architecture” throughout the extent design AND production process the use of a “file-to-factory process”. The resulting design utilizes the North-South orientation of the linear skylight in the Edward Crough Center to produce a play of light, shadow and reflection that changes throughout the day and the seasons – filtering light into the axial corridor below and adjacent studio spaces.